1. جاءَت إِليكَ قُبيلَ الصُّبحِ تَخترقُ

    صباً لها في تَهاديَ سَيرِها قَلقُ

    She came to you just before dawn, cutting through—

    an east wind, restless in her gently swaying course.

  2. مرَّت على شَرفِ الوادي فحينَ سرَت

    نجديَّةً ضاعَ منها منَدَلٌ عَبِقُ

    She passed over the valley's heights; when she journeyed by night,

    a wind from Najd, fragrant sandalwood wafted from her.

  3. قد حُملِّت من عريبِ المُنحنَى نَفساً

    تَكادُ منهُ فُروعُ البانِ تَحترِقُ

    She had been laden with a breath from the little Arab clan at the bend;

    the bān boughs almost catch fire from it.

  4. عَليلَةً عَللَّت قلبي العَليلَ بمِا

    في طيِّها من حديثٍ نشرهُ حُرقُ

    Faint, she soothed my ailing heart with

    the tale enfolded in her, whose telling is burning anguish.

  5. بَرقٌ تأَلَّقَ من نحوَي سَريرتِها

    وهناً فسالت به الآماقُ والبُرقُ

    Was it lightning that flashed from either side of her secret heart,

    late at night, setting eyes and stony sands streaming?

  6. أم قد ألمَّ بكَ الطَّيفُ الطَّروقُ فمُذ

    أَغشاكَ حرُّ الأَنفُسِ العَرِقُ

    Or has the night-visiting phantom come to you, and ever since

    the sweat-laden heat of souls has enveloped you?

  7. بل قد أرقتَ دموعَ العينِ فانبجست

    ما يَطرُقُ الطيَّيفُ صباً شأنُه الأَرقُ

    Rather, you have poured out the eye's tears, and they gushed forth:

    no phantom visits a lovesick lover whose lot is sleeplessness.

  8. أَهلُ الهوَى ما لَقُوا ما قد لقيِتُ بكم

    مَن الصبَّابةِ والتَّبريحِ ما عَشقوا

    Lovers have not suffered what I have suffered through you

    of yearning and torment, in all the time they have loved.

  9. ما لي أرَى اللَّيلَ قد شابَت ذوائبهُ

    وقد جلا غسقاً من صبحِهُ فَلقُ

    Why do I see the night with its tresses turned white,

    and the break of its dawn having dispelled the darkness,

  10. والدَّوحَ بالوُروقِ قد مالت معاطِفهُ

    وقد كساهُ جديدَ النيَّرةِ الورَقُ

    and the great trees with their limbs bent under foliage,

    and leaves having clothed them in a freshly woven garment,

  11. والجوُّ يختَرقُ الأرجاءض عاطرُ

    كأنَّ فيهِ سَحيقَ النَّدِ يَحترِقُ

    and the air, fragrant as it penetrates every quarter,

    as though powdered incense were burning within it?

  12. لا شكَّ أنَّ الصبَّا قد حَدَّثت خبراً

    أَضحت على صِدقهِ الأكوانُ تتفَِّقُ

    Surely the east wind has imparted news

    whose truth all creation has come to affirm.